He gave me a self-satisfied look. “I suppose you already know what my magic entails.”
I nodded affirmatively, but with interest said, “Can you show me?”
He cocked his head, surprise flickering across his face before giving me an arrogant smile. Then, light poured from him, his hair rising as if momentarily weightless. My audible gasp echoed in the giant room. I let my darkness fade as the light pierced it like a flaring star.
“Light and darkness,” Aviel said solemnly, and there was a seriousness in his voice I hadn’t heard before. “You would think they were opposites, but both bring life. It was darkness at the beginning of the universe before this blast of existence began with a bang. My power may give me the divine right to rule this realm, but it’s not complete without its match. Just as we aren’t.”
I realized my mouth was hanging open, so I shut it quickly, biting my lower lip and pulling it between my teeth.
Aviel smirked slightly as his light flickered out. “In case you were wondering if we are indeed well matched.”
The servers returned with another dish, a fragrant, citrusy soufflé that I blindly stabbed at with my fork. It collapsed slightly as I dug into it.
“This is still weird for me,” I said slowly, wincing at the word choice when his language was always so elegant. “At home…”
Aviel scowled slightly at the term, and I frowned at the judgement in it—as if I hadn’t spent most of my formative years in the human world. But maybe he was reacting to the reason my parents had been forced to take me there.
I sighed. “Back in the mortal realm, I barely dated, and now we’re talking about marrying each other when we only just met. I know it’s what we need to do, but I can’t help but want more time to figure things out.”
He smiled impishly. “Isn’t getting married to a fae prince what all those mortal fairytales fixate on? But we’ll figure it out soon enough.”
I barely tasted my meal as I absentmindedly speared another bite. “Because theanimabond will make me not care about any of that? Or because it will somehow save everything?”
He raised an eyebrow at my tone. “Because we’re about to do extraordinary things together, darling.”
My eyes snapped to him at the pet name, but Aviel just swirled his wine, then reached out to clink it against the glass I had just lifted. I was rarely speechless, but there was something foreboding in his pronouncement, as though I was missing something. Like I was overlooking some key detail.
A quick flare of panic hit me, and I counted my breath in before slowly letting it out to the same beat. I had to be overthinking things. But I couldn’t get rid of the voice in my head saying that there was more to this than I realized…
That there was somethingwronghere.
I took a deep sip of the wine, barely noticing the full-bodied sweetness on my tongue. When my palm prickled, I knew Bash was checking in, though even that didn’t calm my suddenly racing heart. Laying my hand on my lap, I glanced down at my hand, dabbing my mouth with my napkin to cover the movement.
This may sound strange, but I just had a bad feeling. Is everything okay?
I glanced up quickly before Aviel noticed my distraction. While I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I was still hiding this form of communication from him, right now I was grateful I hadn’t brought it up yet. Hopefully, he had written off the quill on my palm as a human tattoo—if he had even noticed its pale shimmer. Bash did make it sound like his parents’ quills had been a unique item. Perhaps that meant not every fae had knowledge of what the mark even meant. Especially since they could send messages with magic, though without the discretion of the tattoo…
Aviel called one of the servers over for more wine. I used the diversion to quickly respond.
I feel like I’m missing something. Like something isn’t right. But I can’t figure out what.
His response was immediate.
Do you need help?
I glanced up surreptitiously, but Aviel was preoccupied with inspecting the new bottle of wine. The server poured a taste in his glass.
I’m sure I’m just jittery over the thought of marrying a stranger to stop a world-ending curse. Don’t worry about it.
Bash was, of course, undeterred by my sarcasm.
I trust your instincts. You should too.
Then another message appeared, another tickle on my palm, as if his fingers were stroking against my hand as he wrote.
I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have brought up the lake.
My stomach plummeted at the thought of Bash stewing over his words as much as I had, but I gave Aviel a quick smile as I felt his eyes on me, complimenting the latest course. My plate was practically licked clean despite my distraction. I dared one more message as the servants took our plates away.